Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ

Vettinger, Edward Maria, born at Breslau, 1808, died at Blaseritz, near Dresden, 1872. In 1828 he embraced Christianity. He wrote many works, comprising novels, poems, satires, historical and biographical writings, a complete list of which may be found in the "Moniteur des Dates," vi., 83, Dresden, 1868. This work may be mentioned here in particular. It gives short biographical notes of important men (over 1,000,000 in number) from the dawn of history to the date of the completion of the book, including living persons.

Paul de Burgos, called also Santa Maria. His Jewish name was Solomon ha Levi; born at Burgos 1350, died in 1435. He was the wealthiest and most prominent Jew of the city, and was thoroughly conversant with the Talmud and rabbinical literature, and up to his fortieth year he officiated as Rabbi of Burgos. His scholarship and intelligence, as well as his piety, won the praise of Isaac ben Sheshet. Abrabanel, in his Commentary on Isa. xxxiv., calls him a wise man. He embraced Christianity in 1370, in his native place, after having studied diligently the O. T., especially Jer. xxxi., the N. T. and the works of Thomas Aquinas. He said later, Paulus me ad fidem convertit. His mother and his children were baptized with him, but not his wife, who refused, yet was later reconciled to him and also baptized. After finishing his theological studies at Paris, he was ordained and appointed Archdeacon of Trevino, and in 1402 became Bishop of Carthagena. Subsequently he became a member of the regency of Castile and Archbishop of Burgos. He wrote "Dialogus Pauli et Sauli Contra Judæos sive Sive Scrutinium Scripturarum," but his principal work (in 1427) is "Additiones," which consists of addenda and emendations to Nicolas de Lyra's Postiles on the Bible; also, in his old age, he composed a "Historia Universal" in Spanish verse.

As Jewish writers assert that ambition and vanity were the motives of his conversion, I give a short extract from his testament to his son, in order that the reader may judge whether this charge is justified: "What wouldest thou, my dearly beloved son, like best that I should give thee while I am still alive, or leave for thee when I die? What better thing could it be than the extension of that knowledge which thou hast already gained from the Holy Scriptures, and which will strengthen thy well-ordered zeal for the Christian truth?" He then quotes Isa. xxxviii. 19: "The father to the children shall make known Thy truth," and continues: "I was not learned in my youth, but educated in Jewish blindness and unbelief. While I learned to know the Holy Scriptures from unholy teachers, I received the opinions of erring men who obscured the pure letter of the Scriptures with impure devices. But it pleased Him whose mercy is infinite to call me out of darkness to light and out of the pit into the pure air of heaven; so that it appeared to me as if scales fell from the eyes of my understanding. I began to seek the truth, and to trust no more in myself, and so with a humble spirit I prayed to God to shew me what appertained to the salvation of my soul. Day and night I sought help from Him, and so it happened that my love for the Christian truth increased, and finally I received strength publicly to confess the faith which was already in my heart."

Then after telling his son how God had blessed him in raising him to a high position of usefulness and dignity in the church, and that he had been on intimate terms with King Henry III. and chancellor of his son, the Regent of Spain, he intimates to him that, with all this, he had not accumulated any worldly wealth. Unum est quod silentio committere non possumus nobis ex Levitico sanguine descendentibus. "One circumstance which I cannot pass over in silence is this: that we are descendants of Levi, and the promises which were given many centuries ago have been fulfilled—'Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his brethren, the Lord is his inheritance according as the Lord thy God promised him' (Deut. x. 9). Truly God Himself is our inheritance. Christ is our portion. This, my dearly beloved son, is my testament for thee, and let it also be thine inheritance, that the Law of the Lord may be thy joy, and that thou shouldest meditate upon His Word day and night."

Paulus of Prague, Elhanan ben Menahem; born in Chelm, Poland, about 1540; died at Prague about the end of the sixteenth century; baptized at Nuremberg, 1556. He wrote several works in German, with Latin titles, in defence of Christianity—1. "Solida et Perspicua Demonstratio de SS. Trinitate." 2. "Confessio Fidei et Testimonia Scripturæ Sacræ de Resurrectione Mortuorum." 3. "The Book of Jona," translated in Hebrew, Greek, Latin and German. 4. "Mysterium Novum," with a preface of a Hebrew poem consisting of 139 verses, arranged in alphabetical order, and giving an acrostic of his own name. 5. "Symbolum Apostolicum." It is asserted that he was twice baptized, or that he relapsed; but as writers are not in accord with each other, as to dates and places, we may have our doubts about it.

Pierleoni (of a noble Roman family descended from a Jewish banker of Rome) was baptized in the first half of the eleventh century, and took the name of Benedictus Christianus. His son was named Leo, and his grandson Petrus Leonis. It is from the latter that the family name is derived. Petrus was prominent in the liberation of Pope Gelasius II., and when Petrus died, his son of the same name was Cardinal, and on several occasions rendered service to the Church. In 1130, this son, Cardinal Pierleoni was elected Pope under the name of Anacletus II., while the counter party chose Innocent II.

Ponte, Lorenzo da (Jeremiah), born at Ceneda, Italy, 1749; died 1837. He belonged to a well-known Jewish family, which had produced the Italian-Turkish diplomatist, Dr. Israel Congeliano. He embraced Christianity, assuming the name of Da Ponte, in honour of a Catholic bishop who was his protector. At an early age he became professor of belles lettres at Treviso, and published various poems, including a political satire, which led to his exile. He went to England and was secretary to the Italian Opera Company in London. Then he went to America, where he wrote various plays, sonnets, critical essays, and a translation of the Psalms. But his best known work is his extremely interesting "Memoirs," which Zuckerman has compared to Franklin's Autobiography. They indicate that even in his youth he was proficient in Hebrew, and the impress of his ancestry and of his early Jewish studies has been discerned by critics of his works and views.

Raphael, Mark, an Italian Jewish convert, flourished at Venice at the beginning of the sixteenth century. It is said that he was a rabbi before his conversion. He was consulted by Henry VIII. on the question of the legality, according to Jewish law, of his levirate marriage to Catharine of Braganza, and was invited by him to England. Raphael accordingly arrived in London on January 28, 1531 (Calendar of State Papers, Spanish, i. 335). He decided that such marriage was legal, but suggested that the King might take another wife conjointly with the first. Later, he reviewed his opinion by pointing to the object of levirate marriage, and contending that as no children had been the result of the union, the King must have married his brother's widow without the intention of continuing his brother's line, and consequently the marriage was illegitimate and invalid. We have here the picture of a man whose mind as a Jew was trained in rabbinic quibbles, and as a Romanist had learned to hold the doctrine of intention.

Raimuch (Remoch) Astruc, physician of Fraga, in the fourteenth century. As an orthodox Jew he visited Benveniste ibn Laki, of Saragossa, and other prominent Jews; but in 1391 he embraced Christianity, taking the name of Francisco Dias Corni, and endeavoured to convert his former Jewish friends, among them, En Shealticel Bonfos (Gräetz viii. 85).

Ratisbonne Alphonsi Marie, born at Strassburg in 1812, and died at Jerusalem, 1884. After taking his degree in law he visited Rome, when probably he met his brother, who won him for the Church. After passing through the novitiate of the Society of Jesus, he joined the Order of Notre Dame de Sion. He then went to Jerusalem, founded the Order of the Sisters of Sion there, had a school for Jewish children, and officiated there as a priest until his death. He was the author of "Elevations sur les Litanies de la Sainte Vierge."

Ratisbonne, Marie Thédor, brother of the former, born at Strassburg, 1802; died at Paris, 1884, was also a lawyer before his conversion. He became successively, Professor in the Petit Seminaire, Assistant Rector of the Cathedral of Strassburg, and Superior-General of the Order of Notre Dame de Sion, founded by him in thanksgiving for the conversion of his brother. Among other works, he published, "Essai sur l'Education Morale" (Strassburg, 1828). "Histoire de Saint Bernard," 2 vols. (ib. 1841). "Le Manuel de la Mère Chrétienne" (ib. 186). "Questions Juives" (1868). "Miettes Evangeliques" (ib. 1872). "Reponse aux Questions d'un Israélite de Notre Temps" (ib. 1878).

Ricius Augustinus, Jewish convert to Christianity and astronomer of the fifteenth century. He was a disciple of R. Abraham Zacuto, and wrote a work on the motion of the eighth sphere, a Latin translation of which appeared in Paris, 1521. He quotes Ibn Ezra, Abraham ben Hiyya, and other Jewish authors, and mentions the epoch 1477.

Riccio Paulo, or Paulus Riccius, was born in Germany, and flourished in the first half of the sixteenth century. After his conversion to Christianity he became Professor of Philosophy in the University of Pavia, subsequently he was physician to Maximilian I. He was a friend of Erasmus, and held a controversy with Eck on astronomical subjects. He sought the spiritual welfare of his Jewish brethren, and imparted to Christians much information about Jewish literature. His best known book is his "De Posta Lucis R. Josephi Gecatilia" (Augsburg, 1616), which is a free translation of a part of the Kabbalistic work of "Sha'a re Orah," by Joseph Gikatila. Jerome Riccio (Hieronymes Riccius), Paulo's son, sent a copy of the work to Reuchlin, who utilized it in the composition of his "De Arte Cabbalistica." Riccio relates that he was ordered by the Emperor Maximilian to prepare a Latin translation of the Talmud. All that has come down of it are the translations of the tractates of "Berakhoth, Sanhedrin, and Makkoth" (Augsburg, 1519), which are the earliest Latin renderings of the "Mishnah" known to bibliographers. The most important of his works is "De Cælisti Agricultura," a large religio-philosophical work in four parts, dedicated to the Emperor Charles and to his brother Ferdinand (Augsburg, 1541, 2nd ed. Basel, 1597).

His "Opuscula Varia," which contains a treatise on the 613 commandments, a religio-philosophical and controversial work, aiming to demonstrate to the Jews the truths of Christianity, and an introduction to the Kabbalah, followed by a compilation of its rules and dogmas, went through four editions (Pavia 1510, Augsburg 1515, 1541, and Basel 1597). Riccio wrote about ten other works, all in Latin, on various religious, philosophical and Kabbalistic subjects, which appeared in Augsburg in 1546, and were reprinted in Basel in 1599.

Rittangel, Johann Stephanus, controversial writer, born at Forsheim, near Bamberg; died at Königsberg in 1652. He first became a Roman Catholic, but when he found out the serious errors of the Roman Catholic Church he became a Protestant. He was professor of Oriental languages at Königsberg, and issued a number of translations of Hebrew works: one of the "Sefer Yezirah" (1642); one of the "Passover Haggadah" (1644); he published also his "Libra Vertatis" (Fraenker, 1698); and one of the earliest translations of Jewish prayers, under the title, "Hochfeyerliche Solentäten, Gebete und Collecten Anstalt der Opfer, nebst andern Ceremonien so von der Jüdischen Kirchen am Ersten Neuen-Jahrstag Gebet und Abendgebet werden müssen" (Königsberg, 1653). His posthumous work, "Biblia Veritatis" was written to substantiate the claim that the Targums prove the doctrine of the Trinity. This is also the subject of his "Veritatis Religionis Christianæ."

Rosenthal, David Augustus, German physician and author, born at Neisse, Silesia, 1812; died at Breslau, 1575. In 1851 he embraced Roman Catholicism and set about to improve the tone of the Catholic press and the condition of the Catholics of Silesia. In 1862 he edited the poetical works of the Roman Catholic mystic, Angelus Silesius, better known as Johan Scheffler. Between 1869 and 1872, he published his "Convertetenbilder aus dem neinzehnten Jahrhundert" (4 vols., Schaffhausen), or biographical sketches of Jews and Protestants who had embraced the Roman Catholic faith during the nineteenth century. This was arranged according to countries. A supplement of the entire work is found in the last volume. The "Convertetenbilder," which went through several editions, is a very important contribution to the history of the Church in the nineteenth century, and supplements de le Roi's work, "Geschichte der Evangelischen Juden Mission," which treats only of the Jews who have joined the Protestant Church.

Santangel (Sancto Angelos) Luis (Azorias) De, a convert and learned jurist of Calatayad, Spain, died before 1459. He was converted by the sermons of Vincent Ferrer (probably in 1412, when that missionary was most active) and was made magistrate of the capital of Aragon. One of his grandsons took part in the discovery of America by lending 17,000 ducats towards the expenses without interest.

Sixtus Sinensis, born at Sienna in 1520; died in 1569. After embracing Christianity he joined the Franciscan Order. By the order of Paul IV., Sixtus and another convert travelled about the Papal States preaching in the synagogues. He was more favourable to the Zohar than to the Talmud. Besides homilies and mathematical writings, Sixtus was the author of the "Bibliotheca Sancta" (Venice, 1566), a Latin work in eight books, treating of the divisions and authority of the Bible. It contains an alphabetical index and an alphabetical list of the rabbinical interpreters of the Bible.

Ugolino Blaisio, an Italian Jewish convert, born about 1700. He is known for his "Thesaurus Antiquitatum" (34 vols., Venice, 1744-69). In this work he reprinted most of the seventeenth century treatises on Jewish antiquities by Bochart, Bonfrère, Buxtrof, Carpzov, Cellarius, Clavering, Deyling, Goodwin, Hottinger, Huet, Lowth, Opitz, Pfeiffer, Prideaux, Reland, Rhenferd, Saubertius, Selden, Sigonius, Spencer, Trigland, Van Til, Wagenseil, and Witsius, besides some from fresh contributors, and translating much himself from the "Midrashim." He also himself translated the treatises Menahoth, and Zebahim (vol. xxi.) Pesahim, Shekalim, Yoma, Succa, Rosh-Hashanah, Tamid, Megilah, Hagigah, Bezah, Moed Katon, Ma'aseroth, Maaser Sheni, Hallah, Orlah, and Bikkurim (vols, xvii.-xix.), besides a part of Maimonides' "Yad-Hazakah," and of Abraham Portaleone's "Shilte ha Gibborim."

Veil, Ludwig Karl de, a native of Metz, whose father and grandfather were rabbis, the latter an author of Hebrew books, embraced the Roman Catholic faith at the age of 17, when he was a teacher of Hebrew in 1655. It is said that Louis XIII., King of France, compelled him to be baptized in Compiègne. At all events, the King and the Queen were his sponsors. He is also called Compiègne, after the town. He became afterwards ordinary Royal professor of Oriental languages in the Sorbonne, Paris. Wagenseil, who made his acquaintance in Paris, praises him for his modesty as well as for his learning and talents. Ludwig de Veil translated the first eight tracts of the "Yad-Hazakah" of Maimonides into Latin, adding notes thereto (Paris, 1662-78); also "Sefer Hakorbanoth," with Abrabanel's introduction to Leviticus (London, 1683). A separate edition of this introduction appeared under the title "Hakdamat Abravenl El Sefer Wayikra" (Amsterdam, 1701).

Veit, Johann Emanuel was born in Ruthenplan, in Bohemia, in 1789, died in Vienna in 1876. He was the son of a rich Jew named Benedict (Boruch). He studied medicine and philosophy first at Prague and then in Vienna, in which city he became professor and director in the Veterinary College in 1819. In the newspaper "Bohemia," he was reported to have given the reason for his conversion in these words:—"I went through the Old Testament, and now I must look into the New." And to Döllinger he once said, "Judaism is the vestibule to the Hall Christianity, and I wanted to pass from the one to the other." Here are some remarks which he made occasionally in letters to friends with reference to his spiritual development and his coming to Christ. Thus he wrote:—"The time past, the near as well as the remote, lies behind me like a series of dissolving views. I am not in the state to give chronological data, I know only that it is a good while ago that a decided direction to the positive belief took me without my exertion." A deeper view is given to us in the following letter:—"You do not know the miserable history of my life, neither the ways by which the Divine Mercy has conducted me, nor the unutterable distress incumbent upon me. Nobody did know me, myself the least, but the Lord has helped me wonderfully.

What can the world judge of a poor, contrite old student, full of sinfulness, craving only God's love, who has finally prostrated himself, in great anxiety of heart, at the feet of Jesus, the Crucified, crying, 'O Lord, do not cast away from Thee the poor dog which licks Thy feet, although it stretches still its nostrils to the hideous savours of this world.'" Having such a confession before us, we forbear to search after other influences which may have worked upon his soul. A true Israelite, with the humility of the woman of Samaria, he found in Jesus Christ the peace with God which neither Judaism, the modernised as little as the rabbinical, nor the philosophical systems could give him. Of course, he desired to confess his belief in Jesus Christ as his Saviour and Redeemer by baptism, and this he did on May 4th, 1816, in the Church of St. Carl, Vienna. Eventually Veit was appointed as Cathedral preacher at St. Stephen's and his fervent eloquence drew large crowds to hear him, and many on bended knees cried out for pardon of secret sins. When in 1840 the Damascus blood accusation affair took place, Veit stood up in the pulpit before the whole congregation, lifted up a crucifix, and swore solemnly that this oft repeated accusation had no foundation whatever in fact.

Wolken of Ratisbon, a convert to Roman Catholicism in the second half of the fifteenth century. In contrast to Veit, he was an accuser of his former co-religionists. Whether this arose from personal spite or from superstition does not matter. His memory is only here preserved as a warning to others.

Wolowski, a Polish family in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, directly descended from Osias Tebuat Shor, gave to the Roman Catholic Church several members, viz., a Jewess named Hayya Wolowski (she had an excellent knowledge of the "Zohar"), Nathan ben Elisha (Michael Wolowski) and his brother Solomon (Lucas Francis Levi Wolowski). They were all influenced in favour of Christianity by the Frankist movement. Some descendants of this family are still living in Galicia.